The Supreme Court Has Stayed All Criminal Proceedings Against Priya Prakash Varrier

The Supreme Court of India has stopped all criminal proceedings against actress Priya Prakash Varrier who has as many as three FIRs registered against her for hurting religious sentiments through the title of her film. Priya has moved the apex court of India citing freedom of her speech in which she says that she has been wrong accused. She urged the court to quash all criminal proceedings against her.

The Supreme Court stopped all criminal proceedings against her in all states on the grounds that a song from her film allegedly hurt religious sentiments. A bench comprising Chief Justice Dipak Misra and Justices A M Khanwilkar and D Y Chandrachud also extended similar relief to the director of the Malayalam movie "Oru Adaar Love". Besides staying the existing criminal proceedings, the bench also restrained all state governments from registering any further FIRs against the actress and the director with regard to the promotional video. It issued notice to the Telangana government and others on a petition from 18-year-old Varrier, who shot to fame after her 'wink video' went viral on internet. Varrier, a B.Com student from a college in Kerala's Thrissur district, sought protection from an FIR lodged on complaints alleging that the lyrics of the song 'Manikya Malaraya Poovi' from the movie was "offensive" and had "violated the religious sentiment of a particular community".

The actress had moved the apex court seeking quashing of the FIR lodged against her in Telangana and sought the top court's direction to prohibit states from initiating any criminal proceedings against her.

What are your thoughts on this controversy surrounding the young actress?